According to the Department of Immigration, of the 174,803 tourists that visited Nepal in 2016, the highest number of travellers were reported from India. Kathmandu is the company’s second international foray, after Malaysia. When it launched in Malaysia last year, it had mentioned that it is targeting South East Asia, Africa and South America next; clearly something changed, since the company hasn’t launched in those regions, and focused closer to home.

Unlike AirBnB, which aggregates bed-and-breakfast options for users, Oyo aggregates small hotels, and typically rents out space from these hotels, standardises the experience, and rents it out to users. Earlier this year, it launched properties which it operates in their entirety, called Townhouse. It also has OYO Captains, to provide personalized on-ground local assistance to guests.

According to unconfirmed reports in the Times of India, Oyo is close to raising $250 million from Softbank, at a reduced valuation of $850 million. This would be its second round of funding from Softbank, after it had raised $100 million in August 2015, led by Softbank, but with participation from Greenoaks Capital, Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed India. Previous rounds of funding: